Means of Implementing Phatic Communication in English-Language Film Dialogue: a Diachronic Aspect
Introduction. The article examines the evolution of phatic communication means in Englishlanguage film dialogue over nearly ninety years (1930–2018). The relevance of the study is determined by the need to investigate the dynamics of discursive practices reflecting socio-cultural changes in society. The scientific novelty lies in the application of diachronic corpus analysis to phatic markers in film speech to identify trends towards colloquialization and democratization of communicative norms conveyed through mass art. The aim of the research is to identify quantitative and qualitative changes in the use of phatic units based on the Movies corpus and to interpret them in the context of the evolution of communicative practices. Methodology and sources. The research is carried out within the framework of diachronic discourse studies and corpus linguistics. The material is the Movies corpus, containing dialogues from English-language films of 1930–2018 (total volume about 200 million words). The analysis was conducted in three stages: 1) compiling a list of phatic markers based on preliminary film viewing and theoretical works; 2) calculating the normalized frequency of the selected units by decade, followed by consolidation into three periods (1930–1960, 1961–1990, 1991–2018) and computing the weighted average frequency taking into account the size of subcorpora; 3) interpreting the obtained data. Results and discussions. The analysis of the dynamics of phatic markers revealed a steady trend towards colloquialization and democratization of film speech. This is most clearly manifested in the change of dominant greeting and farewell formulas: formal good morning and goodbye consistently give way to informal hi and bye. In the group of markers reflecting inquiries about the interlocutor's state, the ritualized formula how do you do? is being replaced by more colloquial equivalents how are you doing and what's up?. Discourse markers and fillers imitating speech spontaneity show a significant increase. Politeness formulas consistently decline, giving way to shorter and more direct analogues. The obtained data indicate that film dialogue gradually moves away from theatrical conventionality and approaches live conversational speech, reflecting real language changes and the transformation of communicative norms in society. Conclusion. The conducted research confirmed that phatic communication in Englishlanguage film dialogue has undergone significant evolution. From the formal, ritualized structures of the 1930s–1960s, film speech has shifted towards colloquial forms imitating spontaneous oral communication. Starting from the 1960s, a decline in the frequency of etiquette clichés and an increase in discourse markers, fillers, and reduced forms is recorded, reflecting the general trend towards language democratization and the enrichment of film speech with elements natural to real communication. Phatic means become an important tool for creating a credible speech portrait.
Authors: Inna V. Kononova, Nikita S. Prokazov
Direction: Linguistics
Keywords: phatic communication, film dialogue, diachronic analysis, corpus linguistics, colloquialization, discourse markers
View full article